First shipment of US LNG arrives in Lithuania

On 21 August Lithuania received its first shipment of US liquefied gas (LNG) as part of the diversification of its natural gas suppliers.

Diversifying suppliers of raw energy materials to reduce dependence on supplies from Russia is a long-term trend in a number of EU countries. Although Moscow underestimates the value of US supplies and the ability of the US to deliver such capacity of LNG to Europe to replace Russian gas, Lithuania is already the second country, after Poland, to which the US exports. The US is likely trying to increase its influence on the European gas market and thereby exert indirect pressure on Russia's dominant position. Even though the US has limited capacity to replace Russian gas, it can be expected that other countries will follow the example of Lithuania, one of the possible candidates being Croatia, who is starting to build an offshore LNG terminal, or other Baltic states. Increasing competition on the European gas market will allow to lower gas prices and increase competitiveness.